Education Department Sued for Civil Rights Office Cutbacks (2)

The Trump Administration’s dismantling of the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is unconstitutional, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court.

The administration’s attack on the US Department of Education and OCR isn’t felt equally across students and their communities, the complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia says. “It disproportionately harms students of color, women and girls, and LGBTQI+ students,” it says.

The plaintiffs include individuals whose discrimination complaints with OCR have been put on hold because of the Education Department’s actions, as well as a nonprofit group that advocates for students with disabilities.

The changes in the OCR are part of the administration’s effort to eventually shut down the entire agency, which was a campaign promise of President Donald Trump.

“These actions harm students and their families who rely on the Department to ensure their access to educational opportunities, as required by the federal civil rights laws Congress charges OCR to enforce,” the complaint says.

But the administration’s efforts are being challenged by states, such as New York and California, that filed a federal lawsuit also this week to stop its plan to fire about 1,378 department employees. The reduction in force will undermine the department’s ability to perform work mandated by federal law, that suit says.

The states’ suit also says that the mass RIF violates the US Constitution and the federal Administrative Procedure Act. The department was created through an act of Congress and can only be dismantled the same way, the states said.

The OCR is charged with ensuring equal access to education and enforcing civil rights in our nation’s schools, the plaintiffs complaint says. It investigates complaints about discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, and other protected characteristics, it says.

But since it came to power, the Trump Administration froze all OCR investigations, allowed only disability discrimination investigations to proceed, and then started targeted investigations into purported discrimination against white and cisgender students, the complaint says.

Though the department said the investigations can now proceed, it stymied the process by decimating OCR’s workforce, the complaint says. The department has eliminated seven of 12 regional offices and left only “skeleton staffing” at the remaining offices, it says.

The assault on OCR demonstrates the administration’s “explicit hostility towards students of color and LGBTQI+ students,” the complaint says.

The evisceration of access to OCR’s mandated investigation process runs afoul of the Administrative Procedure Act, exceeds the administration’s lawful authority, and violates the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee, the complaint says.

The plaintiffs seek a declaration that the defendants’ actions are unlawful and an order that they restore the investigation and processing capacity of OCR. They also seek an order requiring OCR to process complaints from the public promptly in accordance with its statutory and regulatory obligations.

The Education Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The National Center for Youth Law and Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc. represents the plaintiff parents.

The case is Carter v. US Dep’t of Educ., D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-00744, complaint filed 3/14/25.